Body Image: I Thought Round Was a Shape!

Body image is a leading source of stress and anxiety for many people. It’s been ingrained in us that we are not perfect unless we possess body measurements determined by Hollywood’s standards. I don’t have a six pack abdomen; I have a keg.

My mom has this refrigerator magnet that helps me keep things in perspective, it says: “I am in shape, ROUND is a shape!” Frankly, I am tired of being told that I should meet certain “parameters.” I am neither condoning nor berating obesity. I do feel that many of us are beating ourselves up over what others have deemed as acceptable physical attributes.

My wife Melissa always jokes that if I were a dog, I’d be an English Bull Dog. I am 5’10” and built like a Sasquatch. But my life insurance company says I should weigh 174 pounds based on my height. My right leg weighs 174 pounds! If you are comfortable in your own skin and happy with how you look, and more importantly, how you FEEL, then that’s all that should matter when it comes to body perception.

In addition to pleasing society’s definition of physical beauty, I feel another grave error is trying to reach a magic number on the scale. I also finally learned that calling anything a “diet” is a huge mistake. Rather, welcome each day as an opportunity to nourish your body with the best foods out there - there is no target date for a healthy lifestyle. Which brings me to my point: Image is something we should focus on daily in a positive sense. If we begin to view our bodies as sacred temples or finely tuned high performance machines, we can begin to change our lives for the better on OUR terms.

All too often, we have made ourselves miserable and in some cases abused our bodies (eg: bulimia) for the sake of image. What if we could use body image as a positive building block? As with many life challenges, the answer often lies in changing one’s perspective. Begin by loving your body. Remind yourself by asking the following: How do I treat anything I love?

I encourage you to adopt this mindset. Remember, there will be setbacks but that’s OK.

Hypnosis is designed to inculcate a message for weight loss in a very powerful way.

Hypnosis is a
technique used to induce a heightened awareness and ability to focus in the
subconscious mind. Positive messages of your choosing are focused inward to
achieve your desired result. The hypnotic state can occur naturally in our
everyday lives. For instance, if you’ve ever found yourself so engrossed in a
book that you stopped noticing what was happening around you, then you’ve
experienced a mild hypnotic state. Your awareness and focus were turned inward,
toward your book.

Professionally induced hypnosis can help you attain
even deeper awareness and focus toward the messages of your choosing. Of
course, the goal in hypnosis is to focus on positive messages that are
goal-oriented and solution-based.